Spear of Light use case?

[Whelk]

I love the thematic concept of the Spear of Light spell, but I can't think of a time I've ever used it and thought it had been worth casting over some other spell, or just utilizing a different attack. I get the feeling I'm just not aware of the use case for it. Any clues on when this spell can be used to significant effect? Is there some utility effect I'm missing? Some monster weakness case?

[Nick]

1. Corridors full of light-hating orcs or trolls;
2. Just lighting corridors so you ca see stuff coming.

[Estie]

I almost never use 1) : with orb on a macro, there is no reason for more key presses. 2) otoh is great, I do it all the time pre ESP.

[Julian]

I almost never use 1) : with orb on a macro, there is no reason for more key presses. 2) otoh is great, I do it all the time pre ESP.

It’s a lot more efficient at killing orcs than orb; the damage is content for every target, instead of decreasing away from the epicenter

[dshorwich]

I rarely cast the spell itself, but many of my @s carry a small stack of Rods of Light through the midgame. They're useful against the aforementioned orcs and trolls, as well as some of the lesser undead.

If I have a big dumb beefy warrior type I often won't bother, as they can chew through mobs of o's and T's with melee, and their magic-item failure rate is annoyingly high; but for an @ weak in melee they help soften them up, conserving mana or ammunition in the process. Eventually even a poor melee character will get strong enough to deal with the o's and T's via melee, and at that point I'll discard the rods.

[Raerick]

Until I have ESP I almost always prepare the battlefield by lighting up corridors near a unique or other strong monster that I have detected. I then lure them into said lit corridor and soften them up with ranged attacks. Obviously having a spell like spear of light eliminates the need to carry devices that do the same thing.

[Estie]

It’s a lot more efficient at killing orcs than orb; the damage is content for every target, instead of decreasing away from the epicenter

It is more mana efficient, but less efficient when you are minimizing key presses.

[Sphara]

If I have wand or rod of light, I simply don't use it. Cast once, get EXP, that's it.

Rods of light are all-in-all pretty good as long as you find ESP. Having more than one in your inventory is almost equal to endless mana-free light beam because they recharge so quickly. Priests often need to rely on other ranged stuff than the Orb. For those situations, light beam is great for illuminating the way to those wand bolts and those arrows, shot from *foo*bow of power, just in case there is something in the way (like mold, vortex, mindless undead etc). And of course the light beam is good at killing orcs, trolls and wights lined up in a corridor.

[Whelk]

Thanks for all the replies!

I'm with the folks that would rather just spam macro-Orb and eat the slight efficiency sacrifice than use the more finicky Spear of Light when I'm just going to rest at the end anyway. I don't think I've ever been in a situation where I ran out of orb mana and suffered anything beyond mild inconvenience for not having used the more efficient spear instead, but I'll try and experiment with it a bit to see if it feels any better.

Spear being better than Call Light for for corridors and for seeing further and having lower risk of blundering into a big baddie makes sense. The aiming requirement does make it a little annoying to use instead of just macroing Call Light, but the strategic value seems sound when you get down to the more dangerous depths.

It'd be neat if Spear became more of the go-to against noncorporeal undead (ghosts, phantoms, spectres, wraiths, etc.) with significantly more oomph than orb in that niche case, but that's just me enjoying the thematic flavor of that type of thing. Because in the end, using a spell called "Spear of Light" mostly as a means of lighting up narrow hallways leaves me wishing there were moments where Spear could shine as an actual attack choice that was significantly superior to Orb power-wise. I'd love to be blasting away the Ringwraiths with it in particular.

Anyway, thanks again for the replies and the education on Spear's use cases!

[Pete Mack]

Just vs most W* would be good. I dont see why orher undead would be vulnerable.

*not vs Forest wight, in particular.

[Hounded]

Maybe if Spear momentarily blinded monsters?

Like a 1d3 stunning or confusion effect for non-resistant critters.

Like our own reaction when someone suddenly shoves a lit mag-lite in your face and you flail madly around or entering a brightly lit room frim a dark one and needing a moment for your eyes to adjust.

[Pete Mack]

I agree it should do level-dependant damage, topping out at maybe 200. (6d8 just doesn't go far for spell damage, though it is fine for devices) But it shouldnt be broadly applicable.